In September of 2021, Reuters documented the story of Mustafa Suleiman, a 21-year-old asylum-seeker fleeing from the ongoing Darfur conflict in Sudan. Suleiman stated that he “won’t be deterred [by] London’s threats to intercept boats illegally carrying migrants” from northern France to the United Kingdom (UK), stating that he had
On October 3, 2021, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released the Pandora Papers. The Pandora Papers is a compilation of over 11.9 million records of leaked files from “14 different offshore companies.” As many as “330 politicians” and “130 Forbes billionaires” were involved, alongside a global list of
On September 21, 2021, Reuters reported that Sudanese officials thwarted a coup d’état aimed at overthrowing the transitional government that replaced former President Omar al-Bashir’s regime. Twenty-one people with military and non-military affiliations were arrested after an investigation revealed their connections to the attempted coup. Many speculate that the group
On September 14, 2021, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released an article calling attention to the discrimination and bullying of LGBTQ+ youth in South Korea. Accounts from LGBTQ+ students show that stigma surrounding non-heteronormative identities in South Korean society has caused great disadvantage. This stigma has taken a toll on their
On August 30, 2021, Buzzfeed News released an article detailing the long-term sexual exploitation and abuse of Haitian women and children by United Nations (UN) Peacekeepers. Buzzfeed highlights Hector Dilamar Borges, an Uruguayan UN Peacekeeper who a judge ordered to pay $3,590 a month for child support. Haitian courts ordered
On Sunday, 29 September 2021, the New York Times reported that Hurricane Ida was responsible for the deaths of at least “43 people” in over four states — New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. The hurricane also caused intense flooding and power outages of thousands of homes in Gulf
On August 22, 2021, the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan created thousands of fearful Afghan refugees desperate to leave the country. However, humanitarian efforts from neighboring countries, particularly in Central Asia, have been lackluster. Some of these countries include Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan – post-Soviet countries located north of Afghanistan.
On July 31st, the Philippine indigenous coalition LILAK, or “Purple Action for Indigenous Women’s Rights,” organized an event called the National Indigenous Women Gathering. According to independent Filipino journalism group Rappler, this event sought to organize various indigenous peoples throughout the Philippines. Here, different female community leaders highlighted issues various
On 30 July 2021, Amnesty International released an extensive report on Venture Capital (VC) firms, showing how investments made by these firms may have direct ties to human rights abuses. These findings also state that the top 10 leading VC firms, which have generated over $82 billion in wealth in
Kristina Timanovskaya, a Belarusian runner, was taken to Haneda Airport on Sunday 1 August, at the request of Belarusian officials. Upon arriving, she pleaded to local Japanese officials to let her stay in Tokyo, the site of this year’s Olympics. According toThe New York Times, Timanovskaya was “worried about [her]
An investigation led by Forbidden Stories in July of 2021 found that an Israeli tech company, the NSO Group, was behind the creation of an invasive spyware program called Pegasus. Pegasus works by bypassing security measures within a phone’s operating system or mobile applications, tracking otherwise sensitive and personal information. Further, according
On June 27th, news spread that prominent Saudi Arabian women’s rights activists, Samar Badawi and Nassima al-Sadah, were released early after three years of imprisonment. Badawi and al-Sadah were arrested in August of 2018 and were initially sentenced to five years in prison. Prosecutors within Saudi Arabian-held trials alleged that
